Distance #198
Custom software, NFT, and Ethereum blockchain, 2023 (image adapted for display 2025)
Private collection
As skilled with paint, ink, and pastels as he is with code, William Mapan often moves between the computer and the page. He translates algorithmic outputs into works on paper, then converts the organic textures back into code. The resulting generative works simulate the uneven application of pigment, textured grain of paper, and visible brush strokes of his physical artworks, bringing a sense of tactility to the digital works.
Distance was created in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in response to the 1914 watercolor In the Kairouan Style, Transposed in a Moderate Way by Paul Klee. Klee’s playful yet structured approach has inspired many generative artists. Mapan was attracted to the tension between Klee’s rigid, grid-like composition and delicate, harmonious use of watercolor. He interprets Klee’s grids as akin to “aerial views” and says that the series Distance “is about standing back, about seeing the bigger picture.”
Artwork series
A step-by-step set of instructions or rules for solving a problem or completing a task. A recipe is an algorithm, as is a computer program.
Art created using autonomous systems like computer algorithms, AI models, or rule-based processes where the artist sets up initial parameters but then allows the system to independently produce or contribute to the
final artwork. The artist designs the process rather than directly creating every element, embracing randomness, complexity, and emergence to produce results that often could not be fully predicted beforehand.